


Whisper

by imaginethat_peepshow



Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, F/M, Nightmares, POV First Person, hollows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 15:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17246351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginethat_peepshow/pseuds/imaginethat_peepshow
Summary: Ichigo’s s/o has some spiritual sensitivity, but not much. So they’re not involved in all the hollows and soul reapers, but it’s obviously affecting them anyway.





	Whisper

I don’t see spirits the way Ichigo does, but I can sense them. They’re like a cold, dense mass moving through the room. I can sense living people too. I can tell if his sisters are home as soon as I walk in the door. So I know that he sometimes leaves his body behind and moves like a spirit. He tries to explain what he does, but it’s hard to understand. He says the monsters I dream about sound like the ones he sees sometimes. I think it would be less scary if I could see them too. Knowing something is there without being able to see it makes you paranoid. You feel like the walls aren’t solid, or like you’re deep in the ocean and something could come at you from any side. 

 That’s probably where the nightmares come from. 

* * *

 Ever since I was little, my nightmares all had a few things in common. Overarching themes that are burned into my subconscious as the source of all terror. What we fear when we sleep doesn’t always make sense. Whispered voices, jagged breathing, familiar places warped into mazes full of red eyed monsters… 

 I don’t have any reason to be afraid of whispers, to be bothered by breathing. But when I’m half conscious on the edge of sleep, soft words drifting in the night are become the fanfare of panic as it runs me through. When you wake up like that, it should be a comfort to hear your partner breathing beside you. Grounding comes from the little details of reality. But if I don’t snap out of it first, that breathing just becomes another terror. 

* * *

 I’m dreaming. I know this place to be my home, even if it looks nothing like my waking house. It’s dark… and cold. Every surface is white, reflecting the tiniest amount of light that seems to come from nowhere. I walk through room after room, down hallways and up stairs far past what could possibly fill the house. Around every corner are wisps of black shadow that always seem to stay at the edge of my vision. Retracing my steps should lead to a familiar parlor, but instead I find a vaulted dining room, which somehow makes perfect sense. I feel someone behind me, but when I turn there’s nothing, only the retreating blur at the corner of my eye. I realize there is more than one presence. Many, in fact. So many. The house is full, full to the rafters with white-faced monsters. Floorboards creak under my floating feet and I realize they may be the only thing holding it up. I hear them, distantly whispering but I can’t understand. I turn, practically spinning in circles, desperate to see just one clearly. But they remain always out of my sight. I feel them growing closer, but still see nothing. Their garbled whispering rises to a deafening roar all around me. 

 Suddenly, the house is silent. All the shadows have dissolved, disappeared, and I am standing alone in the dining room. Then, right by my ear, I hear the clearest, most sinister whisper… 

 _“Are you scared?”_  The voice with no presence asks as the floor squeals and cracks beneath me. The boards break apart to form jagged teeth and I have only a second before I’m falling into the gaping black maw. 

* * *

 I wake up screaming. I can barely hear myself for the ringing in my ears, it’s such a unique frequency. Its partner is a stagnant taste in my mouth so specific I know I’ve had a nightmare even if I don’t remember the dream. Ichigo sits up beside me. He wants to comfort me, but knows his instincts will only make it worse. It’s his nature to embrace me, to hold me close and whisper that it’s ok, to let his breathing fill the silence. Last time he tried ended in me laying on the floor while Isshin held an oxygen mask to my face. 

 So Ichigo gets out of bed. I know it tears at his heart to walk away from me now. I’m shaking and sweating but the solid sound of his footsteps makes it a little better. He turns on the light and walks down the hall to Karin’s room. There are spots at the edge of my vision that run away from the light. I hate that the whole house is disturbed by my broken dreams. She comes into our room, rubbing her tired eyes. 

 “Hey.” She says harshly. Her voice cuts the ringing in my ears and I feel the fog start to evaporate. “You’re awake now. Get up.” I obey. My head spins from the smallest movement. The room is cold when I push aside the blanket and step on the floor. Much of the fear seems to run out through my feet. The floorboard creaks, but I feel it solid and steady under my soles. “Now walk towards me.” Karin says.

 Ichigo is watching from the doorframe, his eyes full of worry and sadness. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to live alone together. He’s trying to learn to do what she does, to unlearn a lifetime of protective instincts in order to be there when I need him most. I know he thinks the nightmares are his fault. I wish I knew enough about what he does to tell him they aren’t.


End file.
